Snow White is making a pie for Grumpy right before the Queen shows up.

After the chase and death of the Queen, the soundtrack skips to what seems like complete and total silence (save for sound effects) for a full minute; after the musical chaos of the scene up to that point, it's the cinematic equivalent of a punch in the gut. The effect actually carries over into the funeral scene after the dwarfs return home to find Snow White dead even though there's actually very soft organ music playing in the background.

The shots of the Dwarfs crying. Any shot of a Disney character crying is pretty saddening, especially Grumpy, who is far in the corner of the room they're in, and begins to cry just as well.

Grumpy can't even bear to look at her after all the crap he gave her. He had to have been thinking, "I was nothing but mean to her, and I never got to tell her that I did like her."

Then poor Dopey, who is pretty much the baby of the group, is so upset that he begins to cry into Doc's shoulder. And Doc, who is barely holding back tears himself, can only gently pat Dopey on the back.

There are stories of how Snow White was allegedly the first animated anything to make an audience cry at the premiere. After months prior to the release of people calling the movie "Disney's Folly," saying that an hour and a half of color/animation would drive people mad, etc., a bunch of grown celebrities/film industry members broke down over the sight of a dead cartoon character.

One has to also keep in mind that the story had already elaborated that Snow White wasn'tdead and pretty much spelled out how she would be revived. Despite the film essentially spoiling its own Happy Ending, the dwarfs' mourning is played with such earnest pathos that you can only feel sorrow for them.

Probably the biggest reason this scene was such an effective tearjerker is because, apart from the mourning animals, the scene was played completely straight and realistically, with the exact same atmosphere you would expect at a real-life funeral. No epic soundtrack, no great meaningful speech, no symbolic magical events... just sadness and loss.

It can be hard to tell since they're not wearing their hats, but when the dwarves are surrounding Snow White's coffin and all placing flowers, Grumpy is the one who goes up to put the flowers into Snow White's hands.

After the Prince kisses Snow White, he kneels by her coffin and lowers his head in despair. He himself had no idea his kiss would wake her up.

This doubles as a moment of heartwarming as well, but the scene with the Huntsman when he hesitates to kill Snow White, you can't help but feel bad for him. He didn't want to do it, but he knew it would be his death if he didn't. Regardless, he made her run for it instead.

The reason he has an opportunity to kill her in the first place is because she's attending to a lost baby bird and thus isn't paying attention to him. The juxtaposition of her kindness and what he's trying to do creates intense suspense, tears, and from there relief.

Following this he breaks down and begs for the princess' forgiveness, whose reaction is mere confusion, forcing the Huntsman to desperately Shoo the Dog.

The most Tear Jerking/Heartwarming thing about this movie is not actually a part of the story. In Don Bluth's guide to animation, Bluth himself, former Disney employee, described the point during production where Disney ran out of money halfway through the film. With no way to finish, he had to go to the bank and beg for another loan in front of a board of executives. As an aid, he brought along fragments of the half-finished film, fragments which astounded the entire board. When finished, the Head Executive got to his feet and made what, for a business man at that time especially, constituted a tremendous leap of faith into the complete unknown:

"Gentlemen, in fifty years time, nobody will remember the names of any of the people in this room. But they will remember the name Walt Disney. I'm in."

Assuming it can be considered canon, Queen Grimhilde's Dark and Troubled Past in the prequel book "Fairest of All". Her actions are still evil, of course, but when you learn why she got that way, it's heartbreaking and puts her into Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds territory.

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